YuMe

Michael Mathieu, former CEO of video ad network YuMe, has taken the chief executive role at Affine Systems. He’ll take over for Co-Founder Mike Sullivan, who will stay on at the startup in an executive role. The management change comes as Affine just raised $5 million.

Video ad network YuMe confirmed it has raised $12 million in funding led by Samsung Ventures and Translink Capital. The funding comes as the startup looks to expand from serving up ads on web video to serving up ads on connected TV platforms.

Are online video interstitials the new bathroom break? Are people multitasking to escape online video advertising? Are music videos being watched, or just being listened to? We know there are billions of video ads streamed online every month- but is anyone actually watching any of them?

YuMe is rolling out support for HTML5 video ads, allowing publishers to monetize videos they serve on the iPad and other devices that don’t support Flash. By installing a free plugin, they can now serve ads to any device or browser supporting HTML5 video playback.

Today on the Net: Shakira is taking questions from YouTube, Current TV is overhauling in hopes of a sale, the trust overseeing the BBC approves its involvement with the to-be-renamed Project Canvas and Microsoft forsees strong ad growth.